The Deloitte Talent in Banking Survey 2014

The United Arab Emirates in Focus

Among business students in the UAE, banking has fallen from second-most popular industry to fourth in just one year. As with most private sector organisations in the Emirates, they are overwhelmingly reliant on expatriate labour. Business students1 from local universities, more than 90 per cent of whom in our sample are expatriates, prefer airports/airlines, software companies and the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector as places to work.

Banking dips to fourth placeDespite the upturn in banking in the last couple of years, the sector has declined in popularity, dropping from second place in the 13-2012 academic year to fourth place in 14-2013.

Airlines and airports are most popular employersThe UAE’s success in becoming an international airline hub clearly reflected in the “ideal employer”2 rankings. Three of the top five “ideal employers” for business students are airlines or airports, including Emirates at number one.

Everyone loves GoogleGoogle is the second-most popular employer. In this respect, UAE business students are similar to their peers in other countries. It is among the top three “ideal employers” in 15 EMEA markets, mostly at number one.

Gender balance bucks trendThere are significantly more women than men among banking-inclined students in the UAE, while investment banking-inclined student are split almost 50:50 between the genders. This is unlike most other EMEA markets, where there is a fairly equal division between men and women among banking-inclined students, but most investment banking-inclined students are men.

Work-life balance and job security are top career goalsMore than half of banking-inclined students in the UAE chose “to have work-life balance” and “to be secure or stable in my job” among their top three career goals, out of nine possibilities. “To be a leader of manager of people” was the third-most popular aspiration, chosen by 42.9 per cent.

Students value professional training and a friendly atmosphereThe two attributes that banking-inclined students most want from their employers are “professional training and development” and “a friendly work environment”. The good news is that they expect banks to deliver well on both.

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